CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
NEW YORK - Third-seeded Baruch and No. 4 seed John Jay posted first round wins in the 2026 CUNY Athletic Conference Men's Volleyball Championship Tuesday evening. The defending champion Bearcats dispatched No. 6 Lehman 3-0, while the Bloodhounds swept fifth-seeded Brooklyn 3-0.
Baruch travels to second-seeded Hunter for a 6 pm semifinal on Thursday, April 9, while the Bloodhounds cross the Hudson to face top-seeded New Jersey City in Thursday's other semifinal at 7 pm.
No. 3 Baruch 3, No. 6 Lehman 0 | BOX SCORE
Baruch swept Lehman in straight sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-21) improving to 13-12 overall, while Lehman finished its season at 10-15. The Bearcats controlled the match throughout, hitting .370 compared to Lehman’s .113.
Baruch was led by Argjend Osmanaj, who totaled 12 kills on .688 hitting, while Benjamin Nirenstein added seven kills while hitting 455. Peter Gavroff and Alen Nurbayev each chipped in five kills, and Ari Osmanaj paced the offense with 22 assists. The Bearcats finished with 12 service aces, with seven players recording at least one. Argjend Osmanaj led the team with four aces.
Almir Pepic led the Lightnine with five kills, while Jordan Johnson added four. Oscar Calderon paced the Lightning with four digs, and epic contributed three. Nathaniel Mattie handed out nine assists.
No. 4 John Jay 3, No. 5 Brooklyn 0 | BOX SCORE
John Jay defeated Brooklyn 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-18) at The Doghouse to move to 15-12 overall, while the Bulldogs are now 14-8. The opening set was tightly contested with seven ties and multiple lead changes before John Jay pulled away late, and the Bloodhounds carried that momentum through the final two sets.
John Jay hit .236 as a team with 35 kills, including a dominant .519 mark in the third set. Nick Fuentes led the offense with 10 kills, while Adam Bainey added eight kills on .375 hitting and Quez Martin contributed five kills while .556. Jimmy Thinlay directed the attack with 29 assists. Defensively, Logan Ramos led the way with 19 digs, while Fuentes added 17 and Micah Rossman recorded 10. At the net, John Jay totaled five blocks, led by Bainey with three block assists.
Brooklyn finished with 31 kills and a .135 hitting percentage, led by Aaron Siu with 11 kills and Joaquin Calderon with eight. Miguel Trejo dished out 24 assists, while Calderon paced the defense with 15 digs and Siu added 14.
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